WND AT THE WHITE HOUSE

Fleischer dismisses WND scoop

Says president not concerned with Clinton-era FBI terror failures

Les Kinsolving hosts a daily talk show for WCBM in Baltimore. His radio commentaries are syndicated nationally. His show can be heard on the Internet 9-11 p.m. Eastern each weekday. Before going into broadcasting, Kinsolving was a newspaper reporter and columnist – twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his commentary. Kinsolving's maverick reporting style is chronicled in a book written by his daughter, Kathleen Kinsolving, titled, "Gadfly."

Editor’s note: Each week, WorldNetDaily White House correspondent Les Kinsolving asks the tough questions no one else will ask. And each week, WorldNetDaily brings you the transcripts of those dialogues with the president and his spokesman. If you’d like to suggest a question for the White House, submit it to WorldNetDaily’s exclusive interactive forum MR. PRESIDENT!

QUESTION: Paul Sperry of WorldNet Daily has interviewed a number of recently retired FBI agents, including Ivian Smith, former head of the Analysis, Budget and Training Section of the Bureau’s National Security Division, who noted that on 9-11, domestic terrorism was the number one priority. And my question, is the president aware that the Clinton administration de-emphasized fighting Arab international terrorism in order to focus on right-wing militia groups, and the FBI never analyzed boxes of evidence gathered in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing until after 9-11?

FLEISCHER: Les, the president is looking forward, not backwards, and is focused on bringing bipartisan support to his fight against terror.

While Fleischer’s response is quite brief, it can be noted that he did not express any disagreement with what Sperry reported in his story.

Then WND asked Fleischer:

WND: I do not know of any evidence that the U.S. Navy’s youngest fighter pilot in World War II, Lt. George H.W. Bush, after the war, ever condemned our bombing of Japanese cities and therefore the killing of millions of civilians, because we were at war, just as we are at war today. And so as Secretary [of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld said, it is an unfortunate fact of war that, inevitably, innocent civilians are killed. And my question is why does the president criticize the Israeli killing of 13 civilians in the course of killing a terrorist responsible for killing at least ten times that number, Ari?

FLEISCHER: For the reasons I outlined when I gave you the president’s thoughts two days ago.

It was actually three days ago that Fleischer told reporters: “The president has said repeatedly that Israel needs to be mindful of the consequences of its actions in order to preserve the path to peace in the Middle East. The president views this as a heavy-handed action that is not consistent with dedication to peace in the Middle East. This message has been conveyed to Israel. …”